An anime series (Tottoko Hamutaro in Japan) based on a series of children's books about hamsters, Hamtaro and his Ham-Ham buddies lead exciting adventures while his owner Laura (Hiroko / Roko-chan in the original version) is off at school having her own adventures.

It ran from 2000 to 2006 and lasted for nearly 300 episodes, only 104 of which were translated into English and aired on Cartoon Network.note And even, one episode, revolving around a Japanese bean throwing festival was removed completely. It later spawned a spin-off series of five-minute episodes known as "Tottoko Hamutaro: Norisuta Hai!".note Which aired as part of the Japanese variety series Norisuta. There were also four movies, none of which made it overseas.

It also spawned six handheld video games which, although largely obscure to those not familiar with the series, were considered to be rather good games for licensed media.

Bizarrely enough, it was initially featured on Toonami, Cartoon Network's block specifically created for action-based shows (that can be blamed on Cartoon Network's management at the time). It actually received a Lampshade Hanging in this promo. If you're not sure why this was bizarre, imagine a children's show similar in nature to something like Dragon Tales or Clifford the Big Red Dog but with hamsters and nods to certain anime conventions and you'll have a pretty good idea of the show's premise, at least in how it was presented in its English-language dub. The show also aired on Fox Kids in Europe.

A new series named Tottoko Hamtaro Dechunote Roughly equivalent to "It's Hamtaro" in English.has been aired; however, it's only a rebroadcast with a handful of new scenes.

All Just a Dream: There a two episodes where Laura and Hamtaro are dreaming where Laura and the Ham-Hams would play a character depending on the story. Such as the episode where Laura is a princess and Hamtaro and the other Ham-Hams are the guards and Taisho / Boss plays a villain. Another episode is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where Laura is Snow White and some of the Ham-Hams are the seven dwarfs. Also Laura can communicate with the other Ham-Hams including Hamtaro himself.

Animal Talk: The hamsters are mostly seen talking with each other. Other animals can't talk. Usually the hamsters have to keep themselves silent around humans.

And in one episode, Koushi / Oxnard suggests that the Ham-Hams should go talk to Kana's friend about looking for Torahamu-chan / Sandy's brother, but Hamtaro tells them that she's a human and wonders how they can talk to humans.

Artistic License – Animal Care: While the hamsters themselves wouldn't know this, too many sunflower seeds are very bad for a small animal's liver. And be advised: real-life hamsters behave nothing like the characters in this show. In reality, a lost or escaped hamster will happily live a feral life for as long as it can find food with no thought to returning home. All of them would try to kill or mate with one another upon meeting note If Penelope is a dwarf hamster, she might be the sole exception, as dwarf species can learn to live peacefully if raised together. And then of course there's all the little clothes and accessories they wear, which would get in the way on a real hamster.

Mr. Yoshi went from just Laura and Kana's teacher to a character with a small spread out arc about him and Charlotte's relationship. Maria also became Laura's friend after the latter ran away from home.

A few characters of the day show up now and again for cameo or plot reasons.

The Cameo: The members of Mini-moni, who perform the theme songs to the first three movies, also make an appearance in the movies as the In-Universe pop group Mini-Hams. In addition to this, the members of Morning Musume also make an appearance in the third movie.

Crossdresser : Boss is this occasionally in the Japanese version. Originally he only did it when acting as the "nurse chief" of the Ham-Ham Nurse Team (though none of the other boys were part of it, so it's unknown why Bijou wouldn't have been the nurse chief), but later on he seems more than eager to cross-dress for other reasons, including: pretending to be a girl to attract Flora's presumed fiancé so she wouldn't have to marry him (it turned out that the male monkey Pepe was to marry a female monkey, and Flora wasn't getting married, but still), dressing like a girl for Sparkle's show, and dressing as a female ninja in the final Nin-Ham episode (complete with makeup, which is strange since he always dressed as a male ninja previously).

Deadpan Snarker: Megane / Dexter would always leave comments when ever Maido / Howdy would make a joke or gives his own ideas to the other Ham-Hams.

Demoted to Extra: Even though they're counted as main characters, Sandy, Stan, Noppo / Maxwell, Kaburu / Cappy, Panda and even Neteru / Snoozer shows up once in a blue moon in later seasons. Occasionally, they will have episodes and sometimes spoken lines but they're not necessary to the story other than filler.

Eaten Alive: One Japan-only season finale had an episode where the hamsters traveled to Lapis and Lazuli's world of candy and were eaten by a worm that lived there. Boss had to free them.

The Faceless: Due to her shyness, Chibimaru / Penelope is only ever seen under cover of a yellow blanket. Subverted in the intro sequence, however, as her blanket flies up to briefly reveal brown and white fur. However, it gets subverted in the official guide, which includes an illustration of how she really looks like.

Fantastic Racism: In the dub version only it seems like an insult to be compared to or being called a gerbil.

Gratuitous French: In the English dub, Bijou would sometimes add various french words to her sentences such as "Oh là là" or "Bonjour".

Getting Crap Past the Radar: On Travis's birthday, one of his friends is like, "Hey, birthday boy! Let's take you to the girls' room!" but this is only suggested in the dub... and then there's Stan, of course...

HandyHam: Pandanote One of the few characters to retain their original name in the dub. serves this role and is usually seen repairing or fixing things in the clubhouse

Hidden in Plain Sight: The ham-hams usually hide in trees, bushes or high atop of buildings but sometimes they hide in places in where a person should really be easy to spot them such as on Brandy's head or on a jungle gym.

Iconic Item: A majority of Ham-Hams have iconic items or accessories that they are never seen without.

The Japanese version is full of them, mostly sung by Ham-Hams that are major characters and that are featured as such in promotional material and or events.

The movies give us "Tensai Let's Go! Ayayamu" for Ayayamu as an image song that gets also featured in the credits.

The dub has its own spin on "Kuru Kuru" (a Stan and Sandy's song), as well as a few of the songs from the Birthday OVA. Strangely enough, there's an Italian album that has image songs sung by Cristina D'Avena that features songs about several of the Ham-Hams including Panda and Snoozer that never got their own songs in the Japanese version.

Kodomomuke: Only the hamsters, the humans on the other hand are more for older kids, as what Laura and Kana go through (like Laura's crush with Travis).

Loads and Loads of Characters: The main band of hamsters is 13 strong—and plenty more side-hams show up from time to time, not to mention the humans.

Love Triangle: Howdy and Dexter both have a crush on Pashmina. Whenever one of them get's a chance to impress her, they always compete with each other to see who gets to her first. But they would mostly get interrupted by Penelope. Boss is in love with Bijou, who later falls for Hamtaro, who is completely Oblivious to Love.

Twice. Both instances very close to being averted. The first time this happens, in "Farewell Bijou!", ended with Maria's parents deciding to not move after all. The second time is in the Japan-only episode "Tottoko o Wakare! Chika Hausu", which it has Hamtaro as the one who is moving away, but, again, the Haruna family decided against moving at last minute, as well.

However, it is unfortunately averted with Travis, who really ended up moving in the Japan-only episode "Tottoko Tabidachi! Haru no Kaze". Poor Laura...

Both Lapis and Lazuli have blond hair, while Lapis's hair is mostly covered by a hood

Nerd Glasses: Dexter's fur is in the shape of a pair of glasses. This is also the reason why he is called "Megane" (Glasses) in the Japanese version.

Nice Character, Mean Actor: Glitter. Onstage, she's a bubbly J-pop singer with Tastes Like Diabetes lyrics. Offstage, she's a sharp-tongued, egotistical bitch, and tries to drive Travis away from Laura so he can spend time with her. Same can be said for her pet Sparkle, who also isn't fond of the Ham-Hams style or the clubhouse.

Non-Standard Character Design: Arguably Haibi from "Ham-Hams Ahoy!", due to having smaller eyes compared to the others. And the lots of the new hamsters that appear in the movies. Also Spat from "Ham-Ham Heartbreak" looks very different compared to the other Ham-Hams that appear in the game.

Promotion to Parent: Pashmina is viewed as a mother figure to Penelope. She once said "Come on, Penelope dear, the play is starting!" in the episode where Sandy and the other female Ham-Hams are doing a ribbon show.

Punny Name: Most of the Ham-Hams' names are puns in the original Japanese version.

Real Ham-Hams Wear Pink: Boss is a rather strong and tough ham-ham, but on occasion, he will act disturbingly effeminate. In a later season, he becomes a nurse along with the rest of the girls, complete with fake blush and eyeliner!However, from season 5 onward, he becomes Hero-Ham!

Mimi, Panda's owner, is young and innocent enough to be the only human who can talk to the Ham-Hams directly.

Laura is able to communicate with them, but only in her dreams. She also could "telepathically" communicate with Hamtaro during the times where she writes in her diary, as sometimes they respond to each other's thoughts.

Spoiled Sweet: Bijou. Her owner is rich thus granting her some luxuries the other ham-hams don't have and she can be somewhat vain on occasion. Most of the time, however, she is very nice and will do her best for her friends even if it means getting her paws and fur dirty.

Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Lapis and Lazuli in the Japan-only seasons. They were a duo of hamsters who lived in a magical world called Sweet Paradise and often invited the Ham-Hams over. Lazuli was also a scientist and often took up many an episode with an experiment of some kind.

Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: How do you tell Stan and Sandy apart? At simple sight, Sandy has a bow right above her tail. But, but if you look at them clearly on a close up, Sandy's eyes are shown to be green, while Stan's are blue; and her belly is white while Stan's is beige, making them a case of Half-Identical Twins.

The entire ham-ham language is made up of them. For instance, they say "Krmpkrmp" when eating, "Ticky-ticky" while walking, "Heke" in response to something that confuses them... there's a lot. Especially in the games.

In Japanese, Hamtaro ends his sentences "Na no da" while Bijou ends her's with "Dechuwa".

Laura's teacher, Mr. Yoshi, has a crippling fear of chickens, and, of course he's in love with a girl whose father is a chicken farmer... and an Overprotective Dad, to boot.

The ham-ham's are also afraid of chickens as well as little chicks, but to their credit, the chickens on the show are pretty scary. One of the chickens that belongs to said Overprotective Dad has an eye patch for crying out loud.

A lot of the conflict between Laura and Roberto can be traced to the fact that he's deathly afraid of mice and other small rodents... like hamsters. Hamtaro twigged to it immediately but it took a while for Laura to do so.

Yamato Nadeshiko: Parodied with the teacher's girlfriend, Charlotte, who comes from a traditional family and has been raised as one... but acts like a borderline Wild Child cow girl whenever she's out of her Big Fancy House.

The games provide examples of:

Bag of Spilling: In the beginning of Ham-Ham Heartbreak, Hamtaro trips and falls into a bucket of water while carrying his Ham-Chat dictionary, smudging up most of the words.

Copy Protection: The second game prevents you from achieving 100% Completion and the third game will lock up at the very start if it detects that you're playing them in either an emulator or on a flash cart.

Fleeting Demographic Rule: The second DS game which actually got a quiet US release. Apparently, Alpha Dream/Natsume thinks that no one remembers the hamsters anymore, so they threw in a reintroduction of each of the characters in the opening title cinematic. After all, the show had been off the air in the US for over two years by then, and the last game was released in the US market over 4 years prior.

Genre Shift: The first GBC title was a WJT title, essentially a fortune teller/love meter program with a virtual pet function threw in as an afterthought. The second GBC and first GBA titles were of the adventure/RPG genre, the second GBA title was a adventure/RPG+minigames genre game, the third GBA title was a sports title made to tie in with the 2004 olympics, the first DS title was a quiz game, and the second DS title as well as the only PC title was an edutainment title. Yeah.

The Kiddie Ride: Bandai/Banpresto made one in Japan using the same base design as one they used for an Ojamajo Doremi ride. It dispensed candies after the ride ended. Also made were about half a dozen knockoff rides from China. Those are, sadly, much more prevalent.

Minigame Game: Both Rainbow Rescue and Ham-Ham Games, though the former also has a story similar to Ham Ham Heartbreak.

Shout-Out: To The Legend of Zelda, in two places. First, the shady Ham-Merchant says 'Buy somethin', will ya!?' like the original Zelda shopkeepers did. The second is much funnier. You collect three marbles throughout the game, one red, one green, and one blue. Then you place them in a pedestal that looks like it has a sword in it. Then you tug on the sword. The 'Opening a Treasure Chest music' from Zelda plays. And... IT'S A SPOON!

Thinly Veiled Dub Country Change: Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! follows the English dub of the anime by relocating the series to America, but despite this, the first area in the game is still a Shinto shrine. Since the entire game is a Macro Zone, it's not exactly easily missed, either.

Toilet Humor: The Go-P verb. First time you see it? When you're facing a tree.

Video Game Cruelty Potential: In the right circumstances the player can bite and scratch other hamsters, and even poke them in the face with a stick; this rarely accompishes anything beyond making them distressed. Bodyslamming is the only way to get certain hamsters to pay attention to you, and you have to outright knock some out of trees and off ledges or other great heights to learn their ham-chat words. The game remarks that you feel bad for it, but if you leave the area and come back they'll be right up there again, and you can keep shoving them without any consequences.

A couple of the DS games allow you to try and "Go-P" on other hamsters, much to their disgust.

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